Temptation, or, "So you think you're good enough?"

I have been through the experience of thinking I'm a good person, that my Christianity (and in essence my deeds) are enough to warrant me the label of "Good Human Being". I was sadly mistaken. I think I fell into the same trap many other Christians do; thinking that our lack of "big" sins like sexual infidelity, drugs or the other notorious sins makes me a good Christian.

Reality sets in after we try to be good. Have you ever tried to put an end to a habitual sin, whether it be something "small" like lying or something "big" like sexual sin? It's hard; no, it's impossible to do under your own strength.

I'll end this short post with a quote from CS Lewis:
"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist."